Apparatus for printing on tubular knitted fabric

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for simultaneously printing on both sides of tubular fabric and having at least one pair of coacting printing rolls contacting both sides of the fabric and being supplied with coloring material. A spreader is disposed within the tubular fabric to hold the fabric in a spread out condition while passing between the printing rolls. Coacting support rolls act to hold the spreader in position between the printing rolls as the fabric passes over it.

vUnited States Paten [151 3,701,315

Maund [4 1 Oct. 31, 1972 [541 APPARATUS FOR PRINTING on 2,652,615 9/1955 Lasley ..26/55 TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC 2,737,042 3/1956 Mathewson et al ..68/202 2,773,296 12/1956 Cohn et a1, ..26/55 72 In ntor. Roderick A. Maund 54 P mb rton 1 Sum, Botany, wales e e 3,083,640 4/1963 Milne: ..101/172 3,335,583 8/1967 Schutte ..l01/211 UX [22] Filed: Sept. 21, 1967 pp No: 669,602 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 243,831 12/1965 Austria ..101/2ll [52] US. Cl. ..I0l/37, 68/202, 26/55, Primary Examiner koben E- Palfrey 118/34,101/172,101/211 511 int. Cl. .341: 17/38 Cmwde 58 Field 6: Search ..68/202; 26/55, 56; 118/33, AmmePstevens Dav, M

1 0 35 37 [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for simultaneously printing on both sides References Cited of tubular fabric and having at least one pair of coact- UNITED STATES PATENTS ing printing rolls contacting both sides of the fabric and being supplied with coloring material. A spreader ,716 8/1899 Horn is disposed within the tubular fabric to hold the fabric in a spread out condition passing between the Stephens printing rolls Coacting support rolls act to the 365,581 6/1887 Cottrell ..10l/ 184 spreader in position between the priming rolls as the 590,245 9/1897 Stokes ..101/172 fabric passes it 1,050,015 1/1913 Gartside ..10.1/375 2,450,932 10/1948 Beard ..26/55 1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures .1 8 2-1 /4 l I u uquuuuw' ,g 1 2.1

SHEET 2 [IF 2 PKIENTED GET 3 1 I972 APPARATUS FOR PRINTING ON TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC This invention relates to printing on what is generally known in the textile trade as a sock, that is to say, a continuous length of tubular knitted material.

In the random coloring of textile yarn, it has been suggested that a tubular sock should first be knitted using the yarn and the sock subjected to color printing by means of printing elements which apply colored dyes or inks to selected areas of one side ofthe flattened sock while it travels through a printing station, following which the flattened sock is reversed so that its other side is similarly printed while it again travels through the printing station. The printed sock is processed in conventional manner and then unravelled so that the randomly printed yarn may be wound onto a cone for use in a textile weaving machine.

However, the apparatus used for coloring yarn in the manner indicated above is unduly cumbersome and unreliable in operation and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved printing apparatus for the above stated purpose and which, according to the invention, essentially comprises at least one pair of coacting printing rolls, means to supply said printing rolls with dyestuff or other coloring material for each of said rollers or for pre-determined sections thereof, a spreader for maintaining a knitted sock substantially flat while said sock is passing between said printing rolls to be simultaneously printed on both sides, and means for drawing said sock through the nip of said printing rolls.

By way of example an embodiment of the above described invention is described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of printing apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view taken on line 2/2 of FIG. 1 and drawn on a larger scale. v

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3/3 of FIG. 1 and drawn to a larger scale.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4/4 of FIG. 1 and drawn to a larger scale.

The illustrated printing apparatus. comprises an upright stand 5 supporting at its top end a mandrel 6 on which a rolled preknitted sock 7 of textile yarn may be rotatably supported. The frame 5 also supports an upper pair 8 of printing rolls 9 and 10 respectively, a similar lower pair 11 of printing rolls and a pair of spreader support rolls 12 and 13 respectively.

Each of the printing rolls may comprise a plurality of printing discs 14 of various widths held in spaced apart relation by appropriate spacer collars l5 sleeved on the printing roll shafts.

Reservoirs 26 adapted to hold a supply of liquid coloring medium 17 are provided for each of the printing rolls. For preference the reservoirs 16 are divided internally into separate compartments so that each of the discs 14 may be applied with a particular coloring medium which may or may not be of the same color as that of the adjacent discs 14. Therefore it will be seen that the flattened sock travelling between the rolls of each pair of printing rolls will have colored stripes applied to its extending longitudinally of it.

For preference, the discs 14 and spacers 15 of the lower pair of rolls are selected so that the stripes aplied b the lower 'r of roll f ll the t d enes btween the s ripes applie d by Re upp r p ai r bf printing rolls.

If desired the printing rolls may each be a single part as distinct from the illustrated rolls built up of discs and spacers in which event grooves may be cut in it to leave roll portions protruding corresponding to the discs l4.

For preference at least one roll of each pair of printing rolls is resiliently loaded towards the other roll of that pair. Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 2, roll 9 is mounted in bearings 27 slidable between guides 18 and urged towards roll 10 by means of a helical loading spring 19 sleeved on spring supporting rod 20 extending from the bearing 27 through a clearance hole in an end plate 21 bridging from one guide 18 to the other.

In order to maintain the sock 7 in a spread out condition while passing between the printing rolls a spreader 22 of suitable width is loosely disposed within the sock. The spreader 22 has a planar body comprising a sheet of semi-rigid material or alternatively a metal frame comprising a pair of longitudinals 23 held in spaced relation by means of a plurality of cross bars 24 or rods, with an upstream portion 25 of more or less pointed profile and a protruding edge bead 26 at its other end.

The spreader 22 rests upon the supporting rolls l2 and 13 and due to the relatively large diameter of the bead 26 it is supported well clear of the nip of rolls l2 and 13. As a result the material of the sock 7 may readily leave the downstream end of the spreader 22 under the influence of the supporting rolls 12 and 13, but the spreader itself is unable to travel between them.

' What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for simultaneously and continuously printing on both sides of a moving continuous length of tubular knitted fabric comprising at least one pair of oppositely disposed co-acting printing rolls, the printing portions of which extend radially outwardly from the main portion of said rolls, means to supply said printing rolls with coloring material, means to feed said tubular fabric between said printing rolls, stationary spreader means in the form of a frame having cross bars and longitudinals, said frame being loosely inserted within said tubular fabric with the longitudinals extending on both sides of said printing rolls and lying beyond the edges of the axially outermost of said printing portions to maintain said fabric in a spread-out condition while said fabric is being drawn around said spreader and passing between said printing rolls, means to support said spreader at the downstream end thereof, said supporting means comprising a pair of co-acting spreader support rolls mounted in such a manner so as to co-act with the lowermost of said cross bars to prevent said spreader from passing therebetween, said cross bars being disposed transversely of the direction of travel of said fabric and outside the printing region defined by said printing rolls.

UNI'IED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTWICATE OF CQRRECTIGN Patent No. 3, 701, 315 Dated October 31, 1972 Inventor(s) Roderick Allan MAUND It is certified that error appears in the nbove-identifjud patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

The address should read --54 Pemberton Street, Botany,

N.S.W., Australia.

Signed and sealed this 27th day of November 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.PLETCHER,JR. RENE D. TEGTMEYER Attesting Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-\O$0 (10-69) 

1. An apparatus for simultaneously and continuously printing on both sides of a moving continuous length of tubular knitted fabric comprising at least one pair of oppositely disposed coacting printing rolls, the printing portions of which extend radially outwardly from the main portion of said rolls, means to supply said printing rolls with coloring material, means to feed said tubular fabric between said printing rolls, stationary spreader means in the form of a frame having cross bars and longitudinals, said frame being loosely inserted within said tubular fabric with the longitudinals extending on both sides of said printing rolls and lying beyond the edges of the axially outermost of said printing portions to maintain said fabric in a spread-out condition while said fabric is being drawn around said spreader and passing between said printing rolls, means to support said spreader at the downstream end thereof, said supporting means comprising a pair of co-acting spreader support rolls mounted in such a manner so as to co-act with the lowermost of said cross bars to prevent said spreader from passing therebetween, said cross bars being disposed transversely of the direction of travel of said fabric and outside the printing region defined by said printing rolls. 